LG Dare (also known as LG VX9700) is a future LG handset that Verizon prepares to release sometime this summer, so as to compete with Samsung Instinct from Sprint as well as with the 3G iPhone that will surely be available only via AT&T.

While there are little details about the new LG, we do know that it's a full touchscreen handset (obviously, since it's in the same category as the Instinct and the iPhone) and it has a pretty nice look. Nothing unusual, nothing that can make you really say "wow", but the Dare is nevertheless an elegant phone, somehow resembling the Prada phone released by LG last year (by the way, a Prada II handset is in the making).

The latest live images with LG Dare have appeared on the Howard Forums and show, besides the elegance of the handset, a new User Interface that LG seems to have been working on lately. We don't know anything about this new UI, except the fact that it looks promising and it features a big virtual QWERTY keyboard.

The features rumored to be included in LG Dare VX9700 are: a 240 x 400 pixel touchscreen display, a 3.2 Megapixel camera with flash and video, GPS (or A-GPS), Bluetooth 2.1, miniUSB, Music and Video players, advanced Web browser, email, a 3.5mm headset jack and expandable memory.

All in all, it seems that Verizon (after just announcing the acquisition of Alltel in order to become the largest US mobile operator) will have a very nice handset to offer to its subscribers. It will be the V carrier's iPhone and Instinct in one device. All we can do now is wait for an official release date for the LG Dare as well as for its retail price that will probably be of at least $400.